In The Owl's Talon
by EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: They said it was a legend, they were wrong. When the organization the runs Gothams underground surfaces how will the team handle themselves? When Robin is taken by the Court Of Owls the team will have to deal with the probability that she is never coming back. And who is the courts newest Talon, assigned to take them all down no matter the cost? Fem Robin (Diane Grayson)
1. Slipping

**Author's Note: This little gem grew in my brain after doing some research on Nightwing/Robin/Dick Grayson. I ran across the Court of Owls in my research and the theory (Can't seem to find any actual cannon evidence that this happens. If it's out there let me know) that Dick, or in this case Diane, was supposed to become a Talon for the Court. This idea has taken hold and is refusing to let me go. So here it is. This takes place in the five year period between seasons one and two. This is about a year after season ended. I own nothing please review.**

In The Owl's Talon

1\. Slipping

The Injustice League wasn't supposed to be here in Gotham on a routine patrol. Batman was away on a league mission and they had no one they could call for help. They were getting their asses handed to them by the combined force of seven heavy hitters plus Bane and Harley Quinn. Zatana was already down, unconscious due to one of Wotan's spells. Miss Martian and Superboy were taking on Atomic Skull and Ultra Huminite and not doing well. Aqualad was bleeding heavily, Artemis was trying to stay out of range of Harley's hammer while Kid Flash and Rocket teamed up against Black Atom and Count Vertigo. That left Robin on her own against Bane, Ivy and the Joker. She was actually doing pretty well until she missed her landing as Rocket screamed falling out of the sky. Robin slipped and caught a vine to the side. It grabbed hold around her around her utility belt cutting her off from her equipment.

She grunted as Wally tried to get to her but was smacked into a wall by Bane. He slid down it unconscious. M'ggan screamed as she was struck by one of Atomic Skulls blasts. Superboy roared but was knocked down along with Artemis and Aqualad by Count Vertigo. They passed out as Ivy brought Robin closer to the Joker.

The Joker cackled loudly as Robin struggled against the vine around her waist. Harley wandered to his side and draped herself against him.

"Aww look at the pretty Birdie Mister J!" The Joker grinned manically running a hand up Harley's side.

"He'll be even prettier covered in blood Harley!" Harley giggled clinging to the Jokers arm as he pulled out a knife with the other. Bane laughed.

"Será bueno volver a la Bat quitándole su pájaro." Ivy grinned and the vine squeezed hard making Robin cry out.

"Poor little birdie, should we put him out of our misery?" Ivy grinned as the non Gotham villains gathered the other teen heroes in a rather undignified pile. The Joker cackled.

"I call carving rights!" He moved forward knife in hand. Robin closed her eyes but the blow never came. She peeked at the villains in front of her to find that the non Gotham villains were all on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. The Gotham villains were looking up at the scaffolding of the warehouse terror in their eyes. Even the Jokers smile had slipped. Robin couldn't move around to see what they were looking at but she could hear the voice, distorted and loud behind and above her.

"Temp not the Owls, they hold the city in their hand. Fear the Owls, they are the true night. Touch not that which belongs to the Owls, or lose the harming hand." The knife clattered to the floor. Something struck Robin in the neck and her vision spun. The world went grey as the villains ran. She tried to turn her head as someone walked up to her. She saw an empty white mask with deep black eyes. As her vision tunneled someone tilted her head up.

"Little Robin watched over Gotham city just like a good boy should. But soon the little Robin will be taken by the Owls, to become what she truly should be." Robin could barely feel the needle that pierced her skin as her world went black.

Gordon found them a few hours later and took them to the station as quietly as possible before turning on the Batsignal. Batman arrived ten minutes later and picked up the still unconscious teens in the Batjet before flying it to Mount Justice and dumping all nine teen heroes in the med bay. He was both angry and worried as the team began to stir. Robin was out cold. He had found a dart in her neck, he had it in the lab where he was planning to analyze it later but he was too busy right now calming down the team. They were panicked because the last thing they had seen was Robin being menaced by the Joker. Once they were assured that Robin was fine the questions started. Only to be cut off abruptly by Robin groaning and sitting up.

"What happened?" Batman raised an eyebrow.

"That's what we were counting on you telling us. What do you remember?" Robin shook her head.

"Not much. Ivy had me caught, I was sloppy. The Joker was flirting with Harley while talking about ways to carve me up. Then everything went fuzzy. I think there was someone else there but I can't remember. It's all fuzzy." Batman nodded.

"You were drugged. Dart to the neck. Not the accounted for villains MO. Not the way it was done anyway. It wasn't deadly so it's not the Joker." Robin nodded rubbing her neck.

"Rohypnol?" Batman nodded.

"Most likely." Artemis stared.

"How do you know that!?" Robin grinned slightly.

"Cause I've been dosed with pretty much everything in the book. I know what it feels like." Artemis rolled her eyes at the young hero as Zatana fussed. Artemis knew Zatana would be disappointed soon when she discovered that her Boy Wonder was not a boy at all. Robin was running a hand over her arm.

"What's wrong?" Batman grabbed her arm and examined it. It took him about two seconds to find the other puncture wound on the inside of Robin's elbow. He was kicking himself for not noticing it earlier. He quickly grabbed a syringe off of the table next to him and drew a blood sample from the same arm she had been rubbing. Something was off here and he was going to find out what. He took the sample and headed towards the door.

"Robin you are on medical lockdown until further notice, the rest of you are free to go." He left before Robin could protest.

**Translations**

**Thank google translate**

Será bueno volver a la Bat quitándole su pájaro. **(Spanish) **

**It will be good to get back at the Bat by taking away his bird.**


	2. Ghost Stories

**Author's Note: I own nothing, including the nursery rhyme in this one. No that along with all these characters belongs to DC comics. Please review. **

2\. Ghost Stories

Robin was beyond pissed. She was fine, pretty much everyone else was injured but she was fine. She felt no different than she ever did. Her head was still a bit fuzzy from the dart to the neck but other than that there was nothing different. But that worried her. She had been at the mercy of four of the deadliest villains to ever run in Gotham and she came away without a scratch, but not through her own skill. Something had spooked all four villains, even the Joker and that was not even easily said. The Joker didn't scare.

"So why am I still alive?" Robin muttered to herself as she sat on the exam table. Zatana was reading one of her spell books in one of the chairs. She looked up at him.

"What was that?" Robin shook her head.

"Nothing. Hey Zee do you mind? I should change into my civvies." Zatana grinned.

"I don't mind." Robin rolled her eyes, she was seriously gonna have to find a way to put Zatana off without hurting her feelings. She didn't want to lose Zatana as a friend but Zee had caught her off guard with that kiss on New Years. She hadn't planned for any of that. Someone loving Robin had never been on the books before, not where anyone could do anything about it at least. That had all changed now. Robin wasn't too fond of change, it made everything so complicated.

"I do Zee. I just need a minute ok?" Zatana winked and nodded standing up and heading for the door.

"Alright but no breaking any Bat rules, I don't wanna get in trouble with Bat's." Robin grinned.

"If I wanted to do that I'd just show him that footage I lifted from the Harm incident." Zatana stared for a moment before grinning widely.

"Artemis was right, you really do know everything." The door had barely closed behind her when Robin was up and moving, but not to the pile of clothes on the table by the bed. She headed instead for the computer situated at the end of the room. It was set up like the rest of the computers in the cave and therefore connected to them, but Robin needed it to herself for a little while. It was a simple matter for her to isolate the computer and hack into the Batcave from there. She pulled up a few files searching each one for a keyword.

Owls.

Nothing, there was nothing anywhere. No mention of owls anywhere even in the penguins file. That seemed to be the only bird he avoided. It was strange. She growled in frustration. She couldn't get that word out of her head. Owls, why owls? She did a database search for them, nothing. Finally she got silly and did an internet search for owls and Gotham. The first few sites were all about night flying birds but the fifth one Robin came across was a conspiracy theory website. She glossed over most of it until she came to an old Gotham nursery rhyme.

_Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time._

_Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime._

_They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed._

_Speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head._

"Well that's not creepy at all." Robin said rolling her eyes at the creepy nursery rhyme. But hang on a second, she remembered something. Someone, a voice she didn't recognize speaking of owls before she had felt the dart in her neck. She pulled off her mask and looked at it for a moment before nodding and hooking up the tiny camera to her wrist computer. She snatched her sunglasses off the pile of clothes and slid them on before continuing, force of habit by now. She pulled up the footage from the fight and skipped ahead to when she had been caught. The villains were terrified. She boosted the audio as much as possible.

_"__Tempt not the Owls, they hold the city in their hand. Fear the Owls, they are the true night. Touch not that which belongs to the Owls, or lose the harming hand." _The dart had hit just about then but the camera was still active. There was a figure just out of sight but the face was easier to make out. A mask of pure white, with pitch black holes for eyes.

_"__Little Robin watched over Gotham city just like a good boy should. But soon the little Robin will be taken by the Owls, to become what she truly should be."_ Robin stepped back a bit as the blank black eyes stared into her soul and quickly shut off the footage. She needed Batman to see this.


	3. Trapped

**Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to get back to this one. I had a stroke of inspiration listening to Dan Bull's Assassins Creed raps. In this version Batman does not know that the Court exists. Not much to say here except I suck at nursery rhymes. I own nothing.**

3\. Trapped

Batman was still in the lab when he heard Zatana knock on the door. He called for her to enter and she did so looking down at her feet with guilt in her eyes. He didn't even need to look up to know what was going on.

"Robin broke medical lockdown. I expected as much. Anything else?" Zatana shook her head and left looking slightly relieved. Batman glanced up at one of the vents.

"You can come out now, I know you're there." Robin dropped down from the vent he was glaring at. She straightened her cape and glared right back at Batman.

"Why didn't you tell me about the Court Of Owls?" She almost always cut straight to the point with him. He looked at her almost with confusion setting down her blood sample.

"Because the Court isn't real. It's a ghost story people in Gotham tell to keep people from ratting anyone out. Keep them scared. How do you even know about the Court?" Robin pulled up the footage from her mask on the massive screen in the lab. Batman watched eyes growing progressively more narrow. By the time the video had ended Batman was glaring at the screen like he glared at the worst of Gotham's villains.

"I'm confining you to the mountain until further notice." Robin began to protest but Batman glared at her.

"I'm not taking any chances on this one Robin. If the Court of Owls is real, then they are not to be trifled with. I'm not risking you, not on this. I'll figure out what's going on and then I'll call you back to Gotham." Robin rolled her eyes behind her mask.

"What about BG I'm supposed to be helping her with her gymnastics remember." Batman's glare didn't waver.

"No. You are confined to the mountain until further notice. No arguments." With that he turned back to the sample of Robin's blood. Robin huffed and stormed out of the lab past a worried looking Zatana who tried to stop her but Robin slipped past and slammed the door to her room.

Batman couldn't find anything truly wrong with Robins blood. No chemicals, or nano bots, nothing. The only thing unusual was that when damaged her blood platelets healed much faster than they used to. It was unusual but he would need to take the sample back to the Batcave. Before he left he found Aqualad.

"Kalduram." The atlantian jumped almost a foot into the air. He turned to Batman and smiled slightly.

"My apologies, you startled me Batman." Batman nodded, only Robin knew that he really enjoyed being able to sneak up on people like that.

"Just so you're aware I placed Robin on lockdown. He is to remain at the mountain until further notice." Aqualad frowned.

"But Robin left about ten minutes ago. He said he received an emergency signal from a friend in Gotham and drove out of the mountain." Batman swore loudly and ran from the room. He raced through the mountain, passing M'ggan and Conner on the living room couch and dodging around Wally and Artemis who were sparring. He rushed to the Zeta tube controls and keyed in the Batcave. As he teleported away Zatana and Rocket walked into the room. Zatana looked worried. Wally turned to the pair.

"Hey Zee, I thought you were busy watching Rob. What's up, you look like you've seen a ghost." Zatana explained what she'd overheard between Robin and Batman in the lab. Wally frowned deeply. Artemis laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure Robin will be fine. He's Robin." Wally nodded and walked away to go talk to his best friend. He knocked on her door just as Aqualad came around the corner.

"Wally, Robin isn't in his room." Wally's frown deepened even further. Then he rolled his eyes.

"Should have known. Thanks Kaldur." Wally walked off to his own room and closed the door before grabbing his earpiece off his desk and putting it on.

"Kid Flash calling Robin. Rob! Where are you?" A sigh sounded over the com along with the sound of rushing wind.

"Rob here. What's up KF?" Wally laughed at the beleaguered tone of Diane's voice.

"Well, I hear you broke medical lockdown." Robin scoffed.

"That was like two hours ago, you been sparring with Artemis this whole time? And by sparring I mean flirting." Wally pulled a face then remembered that despite all appearances Robin did not have superpowers and couldn't see him.

"Noo… And Zee overheard you and Batman arguing everything ok Rob?" Robin sighed.

"No. There's something he's not telling me." She explained to Wally about the masked figure from the footage in her mask.

"And then he put me on lockdown at the mountain until further notice. As much as I love you guys I hate being cooped up." Wally laughed slightly.

"Yeah, how does the saying go?" Wally could hear Diane laughing over the com and what sounded like cars passing. Wally frowned slightly.

"Are you on the highway?" Diane cleared her throat.

"Yeah I'm in my civvies though, I'm not an idiot. And the saying goes, gypsies don't do well inside stone walls. Yeah its very true to." There was another rush of wind, followed very quickly by several others. When Diane spoke again she sounded controlled but panicked.

"Wally, something's not right here. I'm on the east highway out of Gotham… I… n… ed… lp… trap…" There was loud crash and then static. Wally leapt off his bed, barely able to breathe.

"Rob? Robin? Diane! Answer me!" There was nothing but static. Wally didn't waste a second, he called Batman.


	4. Two Weeks Later

**Author's Note: I haven't touched this one in a while but I had a stroke of brilliance this week and thought I'd write the next chapter. I will be changing the rating of this story to M. This chapter is gonna get intense. I own nothing.**

Weeks Later

It had been two weeks. Two endless weeks since anyone had seen or heard from Robin. Two weeks since the team had rushed out and found a mess of metal that had once been the R cycle. Blood stained the roadway and there were clear signs of a struggle but there was no sign of the youngest member of the team. Wally had shut everyone out, even Artemis couldn't get him to talk to her. They all knew he blamed himself for not getting there sooner. Batman had allowed him and the rest of the team to come to Gotham to help in the search. Batman himself was preoccupied with several things, most notably a rash of seemingly random murders. There had been three in the last week alone and the police were baffled. The odd thing was they were all criminals of some level or another. His com beeped and Barbra's voice came over the com, she sounded worried.

"Do you think Robin's ok? I mean normally she… sorry he, gets a message to us somehow. Or at least to you. I mean…" Batman cut across her before she could keep babbling.

"Focus Batgirl. The team and the league are all searching for Robin. I am working on tracking Robin's equipment. All we can do right now is wait and while we wait we take down this killer. Are you at the crime scene yet?" Batman didn't really want to send Barbra out as Batgirl yet, she wasn't ready. But he had little choice with Robin missing. She would have gone out after Diane if he had ordered her to stay in the cave.

"Yeah I'm arriving now. Holy shit." Barbara gagged as she opened the window. The smell was overwhelming. There was blood coating almost every surface in the room, several patches even reached up to the celling where it was slowly dripping back to puddle on the floor. Barbara choked down the bile that had risen in her throat and carefully maneuvered around the room like Diane had taught her, careful to not touch any of the blood.

"It's a bloodbath over here Bats. Whoever, whatever did this… I don't think it's human." Barbara stood in the doorway of the room, one of the only blood free spots. She tried not to think about what the small pieces of meat were that were scattered around the room.

"The police report said the victim had a knife in his hand, but the blood on it was identified as his. Use the filters on your mask, see if you can spot anything they didn't." Barbara nodded even though she knew Bruce couldn't see her and tapped the side of her cowl. A filter dropped down and she scanned the room. On her first pass she didn't see anything out of the ordinary aside from the blood everywhere. Frowning she tapped the button again and changed the filter. This time she spotted something. A small footprint on the window sill. For a second she thought she might have tracked something in but no the print was facing the wrong way. She carefully made her way over to the window. Yep there it was, a small footprint barely visible, a tiny bit of blood outlining the print. She took out a small camera from her belt and snapped a few pictures of the print and peeked out the window, the filter still in place. There were a few other prints leading away from the scene.

"Batman. I found something, sending you the pictures of the prints right now. There's more of them, they are heading away from the crime scene. Should I follow them?" There was a pause on the line.

"Not alone, you aren't ready to face up against someone like this. I'm across town following a lead on Two Face. I'm sending a few people to help you out, they'll be there in a few minutes." Barbara hopped down from the fire escape and examined the footprints. About two minutes later there was a skidding sound and Kid Flash came to a halt next to her, Artemis clinging to his shoulders. He set her down and nodded at Batgirl. Artemis flipped her hair out of face.

"You must be Batgirl. I'd say it's nice to finally meet you but Robin never even mentioned you existed so there's that." Batgirl nodded, not speaking. She wasn't sure her voice wouldn't give her away to Artemis, they did go to school together after all. Wally looked angry.

"What are we following?" His tone was clipped, he was clearly angry about being pulled off the search for Robin, even if it was to stop a psychotic killer. Barbara nodded to the faint trail of bloody footprints. Wally tapped his goggles and turned on the ultraviolet setting so he could see what she was motioning to. They followed the trail for about four blocks. It was clear that whoever this was they were quite the climber. They had scaled three buildings of increasing height in four blocks. There were deep scratches in the walls, possibly claw marks. But eventually they ran into a stretch of even rooftops and the bloody footprints faded out of existence. Wally glared down at the last footprint. This was a waste of his time. He could be out looking for his best friend. God knew what was happening to her. Artemis looked disappointed as well, Barbara was silent. Then a scream broke through the air and all three heroes leapt into action. They raced off towards the sound. They arrived in time to see a figure flipping out of a window, blood flying everywhere. The figure landed on the rooftop in front of them and they saw her in the light of the full moon.

She was a touch shorter than Barbara, dressed in a skintight tan bodysuit that was stained almost black with blood. Fresh red liquid dripped off the claw like tips of the gloves. The mask had Wally swearing though. It was pure white with black eyes like pits. Just like the mask Diane had described to him. He lunged without thinking. Speeding forward he delivered a punishing blow to the mask that should have laid any normal person out. There was a sickening crack and the mask went flying. Wally spun around expecting to see the woman, girl really, flat on the roof. What he saw took him by surprise, like a punch to the gut, sending him stumbling. Artemis gasped aloud and Batgirl screamed. Under the hellish white mask was a familiar black and white domino mask and though her jaw was clearly dislocated she was easily recognizable with her short crop of black hair blowing in the breeze.

"R… Robin!?" Artemis gasped out but Robin clearly wasn't paying attention to her. The white of her mask had centered in on the symbol on Barbara's chest. They narrowed and she lunged forward clawed hands raised to attack.


	5. Obstacles

**Author's Note: Ok sorry I haven't touched this one in a while but I was working on other stuff. This is gonna get dark quick. Seriously next few chapters are dark stuff, you've been warned. I own nothing. **

5 Obstacles

Barbara dove out of the way narrowly avoiding the bloody claws that ripped through the edge of her cape. She whirled drawing a batarang and threw it at Robin who dodged and just kept coming. She didn't seem to notice her broken jaw. She spun as Artemis shot an arrow at her. She slashed it out of the air and flipped back into pursuit of Batgirl. This time Barbara wasn't quite fast enough and the long claws dug into her back. She screamed. Wally didn't want to but he delivered another punishing blow to his best friend, this time to her torso, dislodging her from Batgirls back. The blow sent her flying across the roof but she landed on her feet and growled. It was feral and wild and so wrong. Wally grabbed Batgirl around the waste and Artemis by the arm and zoomed off across Gotham in the blink of an eye, back to the batcave. Batman was luckily wearing his cowl but he scowled at Wally as Wally set Barbara down one of the medical beds.

"Good news is we found Robin. Bad news is very complicated and Batgirl will have to explain. I'm gonna try and catch her." Without another word Wally raced back off to the rooftop. He found a lot of blood and a discarded mask but no Robin. He swore loudly and colorfully racing around the surrounding blocks trying to see if he could find her. There was no trace of her.

Meanwhile in a dark underground room somewhere the Owls newest Talon knelt before several people in white masks with blank black eyes.

"Your performance was unacceptable. You eliminated your targets yes but you were seen. You could put the owls in jeopardy if this happens again." The female voice was muffled behind the mask but still clearly audible.

"Should we terminate her?" A male voice echoed from the seat next to the woman who had just spoken. She shook her head.

"No. Despite it all she's still gotten closest to taking down a Bat. I suggest a new mission." A man in a lab coat cleared his throat from where he stood near the kneeling Talon.

"Excuse me. I know the council will be sending her back out on a mission soon but might I suggest sometime in the cryo pod first. We still need to re-break her jaw from where it healed incorrectly and she needs the next treatment, lest we lose control of her." The council woman nodded and motioned for the man in the lab coat to lead the talon out of the council room. She went without a fuss, trailing blood behind her.

The man in the lab coat lead her to a long room full of medical and science equipment. There were eight pods set into the wall at different intervals. There was only one with any people near it now though and that was also the only empty pod. There were three people near it, a woman and two men also in lab coats. The man leading the Talon motioned to the woman.

"Tish get her changed out of that, if she drips blood all over the inside of the pod it'll clog the air valves. Can't have another one suffocating that way. Take Liam with you to try and get that infernal mask off again. The charge in the trap has likely died out now." A few minutes later the Talon and the woman returned. The Talon was now dressed in a clean skintight tan suit. Her domino mask was still in place.

"The trap is still active. Had to send Liam to the infirmary, just like the last one. Guess she's still just Robin for now, we won't find out who Batman is until we find out who Robin is." The man who had lead her into the lab nodded slightly.

"We'll just have to keep trying. But first Reynolds strap her down we have to re-break her jaw and give her the next step in the treatment. The other man shook his head at the first bit did as he was told, strapping the unresisting Robin to a chair that was bolted down to the floor.

"We should have finished the treatments before they ever sent her out to do her job. We might not be able to maintain control over her if she gets hit in the chip before we've whipped her completely. And the blood treatment takes time to fully take hold. The council is gonna get her killed unnecessarily." The first man shook his head slightly.

"Yes well nothing we can do about it. You, re-break and set her jaw, Tish pre-pair the next shot. We'll need two of us to get at the chip." They nodded and set to work. Reynolds took a small hammer off the table and broke Robin's jaw before resetting it carefully and quickly while Tish pre-paired and injected the same substance that had been originally injected into Robin's arm two weeks earlier. It was a compound that helped humans run on the same level as those with superpowers. It sped healing and enhanced regular strength and speed. Knowledge of its existence was closely guarded secret. The next bit of the process was far less pleasant. The first, as yet unnamed man, took a scalpel and sliced into the back of Robin's neck right at the base of her skull. Blood dripped as the girl shook in pain her programing was telling her to hide and suppress at all costs. Reynolds took a device that looked like a drill and as Tish spread the muscles in her neck he hooked it up to a small metal device that had been implanted in the back of her neck. She screamed as the sound of metal on metal filled the laboratory. Almost ten minutes later The first scientist raised his hand.

"Enough, we don't want to kill her." Reynolds removed the device from between the muscles of Robins neck and Tish stitched the cut closed and cleaned up the blood. The girl was still awake, the formula keeping her from passing out. Her voice had given out about four minutes ago and Tish almost felt sorry for her as they lead her to the cryo pod and she stepped inside. Tish typed the code on the panel on the wall and the tube closed over the girl, icing over as soon as it closed. The first man laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't feel bad for her Tish. It's what she was meant to do. She'll help us take over Gotham, keep it the way it's supposed to be." Tish smiled and nodded.

"I know Simon. I know." Simon smiled at the cryo pod that now held the Bat's precious bird. They waited several hours and finally the man and woman from the council entered the lab and quickstepped over to the pod they were sitting in front of.

"We have made a decision. Her next mission will be to take out those that would obstruct our goals. The ones that stopped her today are her first targets, along with the rest of Batman's little team. She's to take them down without mercy. Have you installed the kill switch yet?" Simon shook his head.

"Not the individual one no. She still needs a few hours in the pod if you want her at her best." The woman nodded.

"Then you'll just have to do that after she's done killing the young justice league."


	6. Hard Truths

**Author's Note: Bwahahahahahahaha yup I went there. Anyway nothing to say here. I own nothing.**

6 Hard Truths

The next night found the whole team sitting in the Batcave, many for the first time. They would have been fascinated by their surroundings, Batman's whole story was written here in the souvenirs and reminders carefully arranged in the cave. They would have seen some of Robin's story written in several of the cases around the room but they were all too distracted by a revelation that hit almost all of them two years late. Everyone but Zatana was too stunned to speak.

"So wait, Robin's been a girl this whole time?" Batman nodded. M'ggan was stunned, just floating next to the large dinosaur that stood in the center of the large cave. Kaldur's mouth was hanging open in shock. Superboy's eyes were wide with surprise. Rocket looked like someone had just kicked her in the gut. Wally normally would have laughed himself silly at their faces but these circumstances were far from funny. Zatana looked thoughtful. Artemis didn't seem surprised.

"Yes Zatana. Robin has been a girl the whole time. She made the decision to hide her gender initially because it creates a good cover for her identity as most do not expect a girl her age to dress up like a boy and fight crime. It seems that at least one of you figured it out." Batman nodded to Artemis who shrugged as the others stared.

"I had to give her CPR at one point, pretty easy to figure it out from there. That and she gets supper irritable once a month. I know Wally knew too cause he always keeps her out of fights during that time and is super nice to her, like more than normal." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well yeah, I knew. I know her id dude. But that's not really what's important right now. What's important is what's happening right now." Batman cleared his throat.

"The reason I am letting any of you closer to Robin's identity through this closely guarded secret is because of the information Batgirl, Kid Flash and Artemis discovered yesterday. As you all know Batgirl and I have been investigating a string of brutal murders in Gotham. We believed this to be unrelated to Robin's disappearance as they began only a week ago. We were wrong." He tapped a key on the large computer and pulled up an image taken from Batgirls mask. It was Robin in the tan body suit soaked with blood in the act of lunging forward to attack. Zatana and M'ggan screamed, Rocket flinched backward almost tripping. Kaldur swore in Atlantian, Superboy crushed the chair in front of him as he roared in rage. Once the noise had died down Batman continued.

"From the information I have been able to gather Robin was abducted by an organization called the Court of Owls. An organization that until two weeks ago I believed was fictional. From the information I have been able to gather, sparse though it is, the Court has been around in Gotham and only Gotham since it was founded. Since their founding they have had people called Talons. There is almost no record on any existing Talon until now. But the rumors and whispers I've been able to put together say that the Talons are assassins breed to serve the Owls and kill anyone in their way. We now know that isn't entirely true. From the events of the past few weeks we can guess that Talons aren't breed but selected, likely because of their skills and talents. Stopping her is going to be difficult." Wally nodded.

"She didn't even recognize me, Batgirl or Artemis. It was like there was nothing in there." Batman sighed quietly.

"We have to deal with the possibility that that is exactly the case. As much as I wish it weren't true there is a distinct possibility that there may be nothing of the Robin we knew left to save. The Court has had her for two weeks and quite a lot can happen in that amount of time. It may be she's just their weapon now and has to be taken down." Superboy shook his head.

"I won't accept that." Batman raised an eyebrow at him, barely visible under his cowl.

"He… She's not a weapon, she's a person. She's our friend. So what if she's been lying to us. I honestly don't think there's one of us that wasn't keeping something from everyone else on this team. I'm not giving up on her." M'ggan lay a hand on Conner's shoulder.

"Conner's right. We have to try to help her." Kaldur stood and nodded.

"I am glad we agree on this." Wally raced over and grinned as Artemis walked over to him. Batgirl made to stand but flinched slightly.

"It's ok Batgirl, we get that you wanna come stand on our side of this argument but I agree with Bat's pulling you off this. You're lucky your spine wasn't hurt." Batgirl nodded at Wally once and Batman slowly mirrored her actions.

"I hope you're right. Because if you're not more people are going to die, she's already killed four people in the past week alone, there's no telling how many more she will kill if we don't stop her." Wally raised an eyebrow at him.

"We? So you are gonna let us stay and help?" Batman nodded.

"Yes I am. I am convinced that if I tried to stop you, you would simply go against orders. It wouldn't be the first time." Wally smiled slightly. Artemis nodded.

"We will start by splitting up into three teams. M'ggan and Superboy, you're team one, you'll take the west side. Aqualad, Rocket and Zatana you're team two, you'll take the bay area. That leaves Artemis and Kid Flash to take the east side." Batman turned to Batgirl.

"I want you to stay here but keep an eye on the CCTVs across Gotham, radio in any strange movement to the team nearest it. I will be in Crime Alley seeing if I can get any more information on the Owls. Call me only if you find her. Any questions?" When the team shook their heads Batman nodded.

"Good. Let's move out."


End file.
